1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to automated vending machines. More specifically, the present invention relates to user interfaces, specifically to user interfaces in automated retail and vending machines, including kiosks and self-service retail machines or devices interfacing with them, which allows users to interact with a digital signage/automated retail/self-service kiosk through a touch interface in a quick and efficient way that mimics a physical display. It also establishes a convention around intuitive merchandising selection or shopping within digital environments, including the Internet and handheld devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
Numerous prior art vending machines exist for selling or vending diverse products through an automated, or ‘self-service’ format. Vending reached popularity in the late 1800's with coin-operated devices dispensing diverse merchandise. More recently vending machines have evolved to include robotic dispensing components, and/or PCs and virtual interfaces. These new vending platforms have emerged in the marketplace under the popular descriptions “automated retail,” “interactive retail,” and/or “interactive retail displays.” Such vending machines may be deployed within a variety of commercial or public settings. They typically include illuminated displays that seek to showcase merchandise and offer convenient purchasing.
In the vending arts, users historically have made product selections by first noting the desired products' slot or space location, and then either physically selecting that product with a button or lever, or entering its location coordinates into the user interface. With several modern computerized designs, users may select a product by navigating through product categories to narrow the selection. Some interfaces have imagery, text listings and product groupings that users can navigate to find the desired product.
In general, the user interfaces employed with automated retail machines and computerized vending units have resembled user interface patterns employed by Internet websites. This method does not accurately represent the natural shopping process used by consumers in a physical retail environment. Current adaptations of automated retail units are less intuitive, and/or based on text and button-driven executions that are more mechanical in nature. These automated retail interfaces do not vary significantly in presentation from utility-driven sister devices including automated teller machines (ATMS) and ticket dispensing kiosks. These interfaces tend to rely on a series of categorization principles (pull down menus), hierarchical lists, or text-labeled buttons to lead users through selection and can feel less special or descriptive due to lower level graphic executions and reductive presentations of information, or prompts that may eliminate visual (picture-based) cues. These interfaces generally lack the fluidity in product selection that can occur in traditional shopping environments that rely heavily on the visual sense for product selection (visual merchandising).
In addition, the purchasing of multiple products via the interfaces in these machines can be difficult; the user must navigate between each product screen to select products for purchase.
Many users of automated retail machines know what they are looking for and wish to find, select and purchase the product they want as quickly as possible. Consumers typically utilize the visual sense to locate products. Within an automated retail store, consumers locate products in a physical display and then traditionally utilize a touch screen to navigate to the desired products for selection, education and/or purchase. In traditional retail stores, consumers can see only a product of interest, and then pick it up. Existing art and practices in automated retail interfaces do not effectively simulate the process of visually identifying a product from a shelf and selecting it based solely on a visual and/or a proximity cue (i.e., products of relevance being placed together on a shelf).
A new visual selection interface that establishes a visual paradigm for automated retail interface shopping processes and management tools is thus desirable. Such a visual selection interface must prioritize visual images as the primary medium to efficiently communicate a product for selection, or to navigate through products being merchandised in the machine or system. What is needed is a rapid visual selection and transaction process, essentially a visual method for instantly displaying products by virtually mimicking an adjacent, or relevant, product display/façade. Within this visual selection interface, users must be able to select and deselect products with a single touch (click). Key information like price and availability should be readily discernible prior to checkout. At checkout customers should have the option of adjusting quantities as needed prior to completing the transaction. Out of stock items should be noted by visual shading or changes in color of the product's virtual display module. Information such as product name, brand name, larger pictures or rich media (video, audio, etc.), product description and product price should be efficiently displayed if the user selects the option.
A quick and intuitive selection and purchasing method allows a reduction in error of selecting the wrong product and simplifies the selection process for the user, making it a more enjoyable shopping experience. It also enables purchase and shopping times to decrease, freeing up the machine to allow other users to make a purchase. Traditionally, the interfaces of self-service and automated retail machines do not allow more than one user to interact with the machine at any given time. Lastly, it can eliminate errors in product selection by providing visual validation of the selected product through the selection and checkout process.
In order to narrow the gap between an automated retail and traditional retail product selection experience, and to facilitate efficient and intuitive usage, the display area or product shelf should be virtualized, so it may be utilized in product selection. The virtual display area should populated with visual images of relevant merchandise so that the consumer may select merchandise based on pure visual recognition of the item vs. navigating through category header, text prompts, or menus.
It is thus desirable to provide a method and system that allows consumers to search and browse for products in a manner that closely resembles traditional retail shopping methods within automated retail stores. It is further desirable for such a system to use a variety of sound and lighting cues to enhance that traditional shopping experience by making more information readily, visibly available. It is also desirable to allow the user to make the most time efficient selection and transaction as possible by reducing the number of steps required to complete a transaction. It is also desirable to create intuitive visual selection methods for vending devices to cut down on selection error (which can occur when limited to alphanumerical associations, or proximity based lever, or index selection methods). Lastly it is desirable to extend such an interface to mobile devices and computers via web applications and websites to allow consumers to use this intuitive interface to shop remotely in order to create a consistent shopping convention across multiple digital shopping channels including handheld devices and the Internet.